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 I guess papa has found out by this time that I'm rather more to him than the yacht or his new racing team."

He did not speak bitterly. It was evidently not a complaint with him that his father, and only near relative in the world, seemed to regard him so carelessly. He was used to it. He neither compared the portion of affection that fell to him in life with that given to others nor with his due.

"O, stuff!" returned Philip, shaking up the spare pillow. "He's not to find that out now, take my word for it! You've always been a great deal more to your father than you've given credit for. He's like lots of other city men. He keeps his soft side inside, a little too much, perhaps. More than the new racing team! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

"You don't know my father," returned Gerald.

"And you, old fellow, don't understand him. From what you tell me I'm pretty sure he's exactly one of those fathers who can't say half what he wants to any son. I've heard of them before."